Short-term $2.8B flood recovery package unveiled
By Chamanlall Naipaul
Tue, 29 Mar 2005, 09:01
Georgetown, Guyana, March 19, 2005 (Guyana Chronicle)- President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday announced an initial $2.8 billion package to help flood-hit communities and sectors recover over the next three months.
He said the acute disaster response phase of activities in the wake of the devastating January floods in three coastal regions was over and the programme he outlined covers only short-term interventions.
Mr Jagdeo reported that the economic loss from the floods was massive and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has estimated this at 60% of GDP.
A secretariat to implement the package will be appointed next week and assessment teams will go into the fields to determine losses in crops and livestock in farming communities, the President told reporters.
He said ECLAC has estimated that 70% of households were seriously affected in Regions Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), Four (Demerara/Mahaica) and Five (Mahaica/Berbice) and Georgetown which bore the brunt of the floods.
As such each of those households will receive a grant of $10,000, he announced.
A sum of $700M has been set aside for the grants, while a similar sum has been earmarked for assistance to farmers in cash or kind, including seeds, fertilisers and other inputs, the President said.
He emphasised that a detailed public assessment will be done so that claims can come under the scrutiny of the community.
In addition, the Office of the Auditor General will be integrally involved from the beginning to the end of the process to ensure proper accountability.
A task force has been established to identify needs in the drainage systems which require urgent attention, and $100M has been allocated in this regard, the President said.
The sum of $800M will be expended on short-term repairs to the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) and drainage infrastructure in Georgetown.
With respect to the education sector, $150M has been allocated and will be used to provide textbooks, school uniforms, furniture and improving water and sanitation facilities in the affected schools.
Mr Jagdeo said $50M will be spent to repair health facilities and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) will provide support for the health recovery programme.
He noted that water treatment plants and water transmission systems were heavily hit and $320M has been allocated to fix these and continue the distribution of pure water to affected communities.
In addition to the $50M already been spent on post-flood garbage disposal, $50M will be used in this programme, the President said, indicating that the objective is to find permanent garbage disposal sites in every Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).
"This is an opportunity to find a permanent solution to the garbage problem," he reiterated at the Office of the President briefing on the package.
He also said that environmental officers operating under the laws governing the Environmental Protection Agency will be identified and attached to each NDC.
The President acknowledged that the sum offered to flood victims is paltry but explained that it is not compensation which the government is unable to provide.
The money could be used to help defray the cost of cleaning up houses and do minor repairs, he said.
He further explained that an across the board method was decided upon because international experience has shown that is the best way to avoid complications.
He added that verifying household losses will be tedious and protracted and extremely difficult.
Mr Jagdeo said the cost of the medium term recovery is about $6B and he is in discussion with the donor community and international financial institutions in an effort to garner funding.
Activities over the next three months of recovery include:
1. cleaning-up and restoring the physical environment
2. providing support for households in restoration activities
3. improving drainage systems and restoring other infrastructure with mitigation measures included
4. restoring pre-disaster levels of public services in education, health and water
5. providing start-up assistance in the productive sector
The President noted that on February 24, he established a task force on drainage in response to the experts’ assessments of vulnerabilities associated with the malfunctioning drainage systems and the threatened East Demerara Water Conservancy.
This task force, comprising local and foreign experts, has benefited from the financial and other forms of support from the British Department for International Development, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the United States Agency for International Development.
Mr Jagdeo said the following short term measures were identified for urgent attention:
1. Repairing release drainage canals from the East Demerara Water Conservancy
2. Repairing kokers and sluices in the affected areas
3. Clearing drainage channels in East Demerara Water Conservancy
4. Strengthening the East Demerara Water Conservancy Dam
5. Improving NDCs drainage systems (secondary drains)
Source: http://www.guyanachronicle.com/ARCHIVES/archive%2019-03-05.html#Anchor---------33242